Vehicle-elevator.



H. E. SHUMWAY & W. T. SCHOLZ.

VEHICLE ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1914.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

THE NORRIS PETERS C0,, PHOTG-LITHQ, WASHINGTON. D. c.

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'H. E. SHUMWAY & w. T. SCHOLZ.

VEHICLE ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1914.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

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HARVEY E. SHUMWAY AND WALTER 'I. SCI-IOLZ, OF FRANKFURT, KANSAS.

" VEHICLE-ELEVATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 29, 1915.

Application filed February 25, 1914. Serial No. 821,013.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that we, HARVEY E. SHUM- war and TALTER T. SoHoLz, both citizens of the United States, residing at Frankfort, in the county of Marshall and, State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle-Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for elevating vehicles from the ground, and has special utility in its application to the handling of automobiles, so that the dead weight thereof is removed from the tires when not in use.

More particularly the invention has to do with that type of elevating devices "which automatically lifts the vehicle to an elevated position.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and substantial device of the character set forth which will automatically convert the forward motion of the vehicle into upward motion which will raise the same so that the wheels are out of contact with the ground, in a manner similar to our pending application Serial No. 785,586, filed August 19, 1913. In addition to being automatically raised, the vehicle supporting platform is automatically retained in its raised position, and also adapted to be elevated to a still higher position when desired.

With the above and other objects in view which will be more readily apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of the vehicle elevator. Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the device in its normal position in heavy lines, and in its first raised position in the dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the relative position of the elevating levers when the vehicle platform is raised to its highest position. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view on the line 41 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

With special reference to the construction illustrated in the several figures of the drawings, the numeral 1 designates suitable stationary bed frame members to each of which are pivoted as at 2 the main rocking supporting levers 3. These levers constitute a part of a plurality of toggle-lifts or elevating units T which cooperate to elevate the vehicle supporting platform P. It will further be observed that these levers 3 are of angular or substantially bell lcrank formation, and are each provided with a ground-resting side i, upon which the weight of the entire apparatus normally rests and another similarside 5, which engages the ground when the; lever is tilted, while the pivot 2 is so arranged that the rocking of the lever will cause the end 6 thereof to be raised .or lowered according to which side of the lever is in contact with the ground.

Above and between the bed frame members 1 and themain rocking elevating sup- .porting levers 3 there is movably suspended the vehicle supporting platform P above referred to, which includes inits organization a pair of parallel frame bars 7, whose rear ends are downwardly inclined as at 8, and which are connected by. means of the auxiliary elevating and supporting levers 9 having secured thereto the braces 10 that are in turn fastened to the spanner bars 11. These bars 11 are also pivotally connected to the lower ends 12 of the said auxiliary elevating and supporting levers 9 which are similar in design to the levers 3, and arranged in an inverted position with respect to the latter. The said levers 9 are pivoted at their upper ends as at 13 to the frame bars 7, while their lower ends 11 are also similarly connected with one end of the swinging hanger links 1 1 which are pivotally suspended from the end 6 of the main elevating and supporting levers 3. Thus it will be apparent that the platform P is floatingly supported upon two pair of oppositely arranged elevating and supporting levers 3 and 9 which are pivotally connected by the hanger links 1 1.

The frame bars 7 of the supporting platform P have pivotally attached thereto as at 15, a plurality of slotted trip carrier arms 16, each of which is adapted to slidably receive within its slotted portion a guide pin 17 carried by each one of the levers 3. Each trip carrier arm is also provided with a trip latch 18 which is pivoted thereto as at I 18", the forward end thereof engaging with a stud or like projection 20 carried by the end 6 of all of the levers 3, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The said latch member 18 is prevented from rotating in one direction by means of an offset flange 21, as shown in Fig. 1, thus enabling its forward end 22 to move downwardly in the resetting operation of the device as hereinafter described.

The purpose of the present design of frame bar 7 is to utilize a novel bumper and axle supporting device which includes two independent members one on each frame bar. Each one of these members comprises a bumper member 23 and a rear axle supporting seat 24, having the axle receiving groove 25, and which is joined to the bumper member 23 by means of a suitable connector 26.

As will be observed from Fig. 4, the frame bars are each composed of the angle members 7 whose upper flanges 27 are slidably engaged by the inturned feet 28 of the bumpers 23 and rear axle seats 24, thus permitting the same to freely slide on the frame bar 7. Normally the sliding axle seats 24 are at the lower end of the inclines v8, and thus below the plane of the surface of the bars 7, while the bumpers 23 are directly in the path of an on-coming vehicle. The forward and backward movement of each member of the bumper device is limited by the stops 29 on the frame bars, the foremost set being engaged by the pivoted lugs 30 carried by the bumpers 23 to cause the forward movement of the vehicle platform. 7

In order to provide for elevating the vehicle platform to a greater height than that afforded by the movement of the vehicle,

there is provided atthe forward end of the 7 device a suitable auxiliary elevating mechanism which consists of an ordinary rack and pinion housed within a suitable casing C, and which is controlled by means ofa pawl and ratchet mechanism 31. The rack 32 of this part of the device is pivotally connected at one end with the links 33 which are in turn pivotally connected to the brackets 34 secured to each of the frame bars.

The normal position of the device is shown by heavy lines in Fig. 2, where it will be observed that the main rocking and supporting levers 3 have their faces 4 in contact with the ground, and the vehicle supporting platform P isin its lowermost position. Further, in the normal position of the device, the rear axle supports 24 are at the base of the inclines 8, while the bumper members 23 are held adjacent the rear set of stop members 29 on the frame bars 7. Accordingly, when a vehicle running underits own power is guided astride the platform, the front axle thereof will engage one end of the pivoted lugs 30 of the bumper members 23, throwing their forward ends downward, and at the same time drawing the rear axle supports 24 forward so that both of the same engage with and. support the rear axle of the machine at the proper time, while the end of the lugs on the bumpers 23 engage with the front set of stops 27. The V ing the levers 3 on their pivots 2 so that the s" 7 sides 4 thereof are lifted from the ground and the sides 5 thrown into contact therewith.

Duringthe rocking movement of the levers 3, the studs 20 will rise, and tend to disengage from the end of the latches. However, in order to effect a positive disengagement after the levers have been tilted position thereby effecting a completeptilt.

Then the said pins 17 following the path of an arc, go downward andcarry the arms 16 with them, so that the latches 18 are all positively disengaged from the studs 20. At this point, it may be noted that the purpose of pivoting the latches 18 at one side of their center as at 18 is to accomplish a resetting thereof. That is to say, upon the return of the platform to normal position, the pivoting of the latches so thatthey move downwardly at their stud engaging ends'22, en-

ables the same to clear theunderside of the 115 pins or studs 20, without binding so that they can again automatically come into engagement with the studs. It isobvious, that. owing to the latches being pivoted at one side of their center as shown, they are able be actuated, and held in position by the After this, they are pawl and ratchet device 31, but it will be understood that the locking of this rack is entirely unnecessary to retain the platform in its initial elevated position. That is, the position to which the platform is elevated by the main rocking and elevating levers 3. The construction of these levers provides for this, as will be readily apparent from the previous description thereof.

If the momentumof the machine is suflicient tocarry the platform higher than the position accomplished by the levers 3, the rack 32 will advance and be locked in its advanced position by the pawl and ratchet device 31, thereby holding the platform in its extra elevated plane.

Ingoing to a higher level, the levers 9 are brought into play, as are also the swinging hanger links 14. That is to say, in the further forward movement of the platform from the first elevated position, the levers 9 turn on their pivots 13 so that one side thereof, that side which corresponds to the side 5 of the levers 3, comes into alinement with the frame bars as shown in Fig. 3, while the links 14: permit the platform to elevate as much as possible under the re straint of the arms 16. In other words, the limit of the rise of theplatform is the limit of the length of the slot in the arms 16 which receive the studs 17 on the sides of the levers 3. Also, in connection with the elevating feature, it will be noted that the platform can be raised to its highest position by rocking the handle H of the ratchet device 31 so that the rack 32 exerts a pull on the fore end of the entire platform through the connecting links 33 and brackets 34:.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the methods of raising the vehicle platform to the different elevations will be readily apparent, and it only remains to be explained how the device is lowered. Assuming that the vehicle is on the platform of the device, and in the highest plane that the mechanism can raise it to, it is only necessary to press the exterior pedal of the foot-release-lever 35 so that the pawl 36 is released from the ratchet 37 and the device thrown out of ac tion. With the pawl and ratchet inoperative the dead weight of the vehicle will quickly cause the elevating units T to collapse and return to normal position, at the same time pulling the rack 32 also to its normal position. The momentum of the down-coming vehicle will be suflicient to carry the platform to its lowest position so that the sides 4 ofthe levers 3 are in contact with the ground. In other words, in coming from its highest to its lowest plane, the platform will not rest in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, referred to as the initial elevating position, on account of the downward and rearward movement of the falling weight. In this connection, it will be noted that the pivots 2 and 20 are onlysufliciently out of vertical alinement to enable the platform to assume its initial elevated plane, and under the influence of a rearward forc e,the levers '3 will be tilted to their normal position. Accordingly, owing to the great momentum of the lowering vehicle, it will be obvious that there will be suflicient force to cause the levers to rock back to their original place. The latches 18 will also be automatically reset, that is, again thrown into engagement with the studs 20, and the device made ready for elevating another vehicle.

We claim:

1. A vehicle elevating device comprising astationary bed frame, a vehicle supporting platform, rocking means pivoted eccentrically on both the frame and platform, connecting means for said rocking means carried by the frame and platform, and means also carried by the platform for engaging the rocking means pivoted on thebed frame to cause them to rock and elevate the platform when the latter is moved forward by the momentum of a moving vehicle.

2. A vehicle elevating device comprising a stationary bed frame, main rocking elevating and supporting levers eccentrically pivoted thereto, a vehicle platform, auxiliary elevating rocking and supporting levers pivoted eccentrically to said platform, links connecting said levers, and pivoted trip arms carried by said platform adapted to engage the said main rocking levers to cause them to rock and elevate the platform when the latter is moved forward by the momentum of a moving vehicle.

3. A vehicle elevating device comprising a stationary bed frame, main rocking elevating and supporting levers eccentrically pivoted thereto, a vehicle platform, a auxiliary elevating rocking and supporting levers pivoted eccentrically to said platform, swinging means connecting similar ends of said levers, and pivoted trip means carried by said platform adapted to engage with each of said main rocking levers to cause them to rock and elevate the platform when the latter is moved forward by the momentum of a moving vehicle.

4. A vehicle elevating a stationary bed frame, a vehicle supporting platform, rocking means pivoted eccentrically on both the said frame and platform, connecting means for said rocking means carried by the frame and platform, means also carried by the platform for initially tripping said rocking means carried by the bed frame, and auxiliary elevating and retaining means for raising the platform to higher elevations.

A vehicle elevating a stationary bed frame,

device comprising device comprising rocking elevating and supporting levers pivoted to said bed frame and arranged 1n longitudinal pairs,

Y hanger links having their upper ends pivotally connected to the said rocking levers, a vehicle supporting platform, auxiliary rocking elevating and supporting levers pivotally carried by the said platform, said latter levers pivoted at their lower ends to said hanger links, sliding bumper means carried by said vehicle platform for causing said main rocking levers to tilt upon for- Ward movement of the platform caused by the momentum of a moving vehicle, and auxiliary elevating and retaining means connected with the forward end of said platform.

6. A vehicle elevating device comprising a stationary bed frame, an elevating platform including frame bars inclined at their rear ends, main rocking elevating and supporting levers pivoted to said bed frame, auxiliary rocking elevating and supporting levers pivotally carried by the elevating platform, means connecting said main and auxiliary levers, means carried by the platform for engaging the main rocking levers during the forward movement thereof to Copies of this patent may be obtained for cause said levers to rock on their pivots, and bumper means carried by the platform.

7. A vehicle elevating device including a V stationary bed frame, main. rocking elevating and supporting levers pivoted thereto, an elevating platform including vehicle supporting frame bars, auxiliary rocking elevating and supporting levers pivoted to the bars of said'elevating platform, hanger links connecting the said main and auxiliary rocking levers, studs carried by the upper ends of said main rocking levers,

guide pins also carried thereby, arms pivotally carried. by the elevating platform and provided with slots for receiving the guide pins, trip latches carried by said arms for engagement With said studs, and sliding bumper means carried by said platform.

In testimony whereof We hereunto affix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

HARVEY E. sHUMWAY, WALTER r. soHoLz;

Witnesses F. M. I-IARTMAN, H. KE NEDY.

five cents each, by addressing the fCommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. V 

